Russian, Azerbaijani presidents meet in Sochi 

ArmInfo.Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had a conversation at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi.   "I have just spoken with my colleagues - with the Deputy Prime  Minister, you know him well.

He deals with resolving economic issues  and unblocking transport corridors. I have also spoken with the  Defence Minister and with the FSB Director who is in charge of the  Border Guard Service that is making a tangible contribution to  settling the problem. In short, there are many issues to resolve,"  Putin said.  "However, I would still like to start our bilateral  meeting by saying that next year we will mark the 30th anniversary of  our diplomatic relations. This is certainly a landmark and I suppose  we should celebrate it befittingly. I would like to say in this  context that our strategic partnership is making steady headway," the  Russian leader said. 

"With regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, we will continue  this discussion in a trilateral format after the Prime Minister of  Armenia joins us. I think our peacekeepers play a positive role  there, and the Russian-Turkish centre for monitoring the ceasefire is  fully operational as well. Unfortunately, there are problems,  incidents and casualties. But this is precisely why we have gathered  - in order to see what has been accomplished and what needs to be  done by everyone to make sure that nothing of the kind ever happens  again and to create proper conditions for calming the situation in  the region so that people live in peace and countries continue to  move forward," President Putin said. 

In his turn, President Ilham Aliyev said: 

"This week illustrated the development of our relations. This week I  met with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian  Federation.Yesterday evening I met with the President of the Russian  Academy of Sciences.  Your Special Representative for International  Cultural Cooperation was in Baku during the past week on an extremely  important mission: to develop contacts between the intellectuals and  cultural figures of Azerbaijan and Armenia, with Russia's active  involvement. Another event this week was a large business conference  of the Russian Export Centre and the Eximbank of Russia, in which  over 30 Russian companies took part. In other words, this week  provided a good example of our relationship in only some of the areas  of our cooperation."

"I would like to point out that during the past year, since the  deployment of the Russian peacekeeping forces [in Nagorno-Karabakh]  on November 10, 2020, no serious incidents, no armed clashes or any  other serious incidents took place in their zone of responsibility.  There were sporadic incidents, but they did not amount to a  systemwide crisis," the Azerbaijani president said, without  mentioning the murder of at least three Armenian civilians, with  three injured, by Azerbaijani troops.  

Speaking of the clashes on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, "but it is  not a zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers," Aliyev  said, without mentioning the fact of Azerbaijani troops` incursion  into Armenia`s sovereign territory. 

"Nevertheless, this makes us take a closer look at the developments.  We need to talk, including in the trilateral format, about  controlling and minimising risks and coordinating a comprehensive  settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations," the Azerbaijani leader  said. 

"We appreciate the role you are playing personally in this matter,  the role of the senior officials of the Russian Government and, of  course, the role of the Russian peacekeeping forces in maintaining  peace in Karabakh. We hope that these efforts will continue next year  and that they will produce equally good results," Aliyev said. 

The Aliyev-Putin meeting is to be followed by a trilateral meeting  with Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan`s participation and President  Putin`s private meeting with the Armenian premier. The sides will  discuss a settlement of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and  unblocking of economic and transport communications in the region.